


Glow in the Dark Band-Aids and Smooth Jazz

by floralhearts



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Child Abuse, Everyone cares about Flash, Flash Thompson Needs a Hug, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, Physical Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Suicide, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 20:45:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19980247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floralhearts/pseuds/floralhearts
Summary: Getting grouped up with none other than Peter Parker and his friends was not exactly what Flash Thompson was looking forward to on this field-trip, but he'd survive.Sort-of.





	Glow in the Dark Band-Aids and Smooth Jazz

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [sincerity is scary](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19948237) by [azumarheart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/azumarheart/pseuds/azumarheart). 



> Hi everyone time for my honorary I Love Flash Thompson Fic that comes every time I remember just how Babey he is. honestly tho I love him so bad I want NOTHING but the best for him. FFH really gave me quality flash content but I decided. Hmm. Why dont I just... Fuck This Young Man Up Even More.
> 
> Anyways! This fic is actually based on 'Sincerity is Scary' by azumarheart, and the whole situation written here, they actually did first! I just wanted to write my own version of spider-gang finding out in my own angsty way hehehe >:)
> 
> ^^^^^ Y'all should really go read it tho, it is PHENOMENAL

“Alright kids, we’ve got a bit of free-time here, but due to recent… incidents… I’ve decided to group you all up.”

There was a collective groan from the group of teenagers. Roger Harrington rolled his eyes. 

“Group one; Brad, Zach, Jason, Josh. Group two; Yasmin, Tyler, Zoha, Sebastian, Abe. Group three; Cindy, Charles, Sally, Seymour.”

The remaining five children seemed to realize where their teacher was headed, frowning.

“And group four; Peter, Ned, Mj, Betty, and Flash.”

Eugene ‘Flash’ Thompson shared a look with both Josh Spinelli and Tyler Corbyn, not looking happy in the slightest. 

“ _What?_ ” He demanded, eyebrows raised. “How come everyone else is with their friends!?” 

“The groups were made at random, Mr. Thompson.” The teacher replied. Flash looked unconvinced. 

“Uh, Mr. Harrington?” Josh spoke up, “We only have four people in our group, couldn’t Flash come with us?”

“The groups are already saved in my ipad Joshua,” the man replied, “and besides, it’s just a bit of group fun, how bad could it be?”

;-;

_Very bad,_ was the correct answer. 

Since the beginning of the hour, when the groups had been made, Flash hadn’t spoken to any of his group members. They all looked to be having the time of their lives, sight-seeing and whatnot, while he stood off to the side, brooding. 

_Saved in my ipad my ass._

“Peter!” Ned cried excitedly, holding out his phone, “Let’s get a picture of us in front of this!” Betty was nodding enthusiastically at his side. 

Flash smirked slightly as he watched the four students struggle to fit themselves and the monument into the small selfie frame, but frowned when it quickly became annoying. He pursed his lips.

“Let me do it.” He grumbled, snatching the phone from Peter’s hand, “You look like idiots.” 

Mj snorted as Ned and Betty tried to bite back smiles. Peter smirked, raising a brow. 

“Wow Flash, it’s almost like you’re being nice.” He called as the shortest of the five backed up to get a better shot.

“Shut up penis.” Flash mumbled, eyes still set on the phone screen. 

_Bang!_

The four posing flinched, looking around wildly for the source of the sound. 

“Oh thank god,” Ned sighed, loosening his grip on Betty’s hand, “It was just a car backfire.” They all looked rather relieved. After what had happened in Italy, the last thing they needed was _more_ fighting.

“Flash?”

Everyone turned their attention to the boy in question as Mj called out to him. 

The boy had frozen completely. Eyes wide. His chest was still as stone.

“Flash?” Mj called again, brow furrowed. 

The phone clattered to the ground. 

_“You’re such a selfish fucking bitch! You never think about anyone but yourself!”_

_“For fucks sake Harrison! You were dead!”_

_“Well I’m not fucking dead anymore! I come back to, what, my wife fucking the houseboy? You’re such a fucking slut!”_

_“It was five years you selfish asshole! What was I supposed to do!? Wait around for my dead husband who only ever used me for sex to just pop back in!? I’m too fucking good for you!”_

_“Not too good for my money apparently!”_

_“Oh fuck you, you didn’t deserve a cent of what you had!”_

_Eugene watched, jaw shut tightly, hands shaking at his side. He couldn’t believe that he had blipped back to this. That no one even cared that he had come back, and he was stuck back at home with nothing but screaming and crying._

_The fighting continued. It went on and on and on and-_

_Eugene watched as his father left the room. There was an eerie unsettling silence. The room seemed to spin. He looked over to his mother, standing tall as usual. She sneered at him._

_“What’re you looking at you little shit?” She hissed. “Don’t look so upset. Parents fight. It’s what they do. You’re lucky you have ones as good as us that put up with your ungrateful ass.”_

_The boy swallowed, saying nothing. He was used to her speaking to him like so. He wished he could say it no longer phased him, but he’d be lying._

_His father walked back into the room. Gun in hand._

_Eugene’s heart stopped._

_Harrison Thompson was the chief of police, and the chief of police would never shoot his wife…_

_Right?_

_Right._

_Without a word, Harrison raised the gun to his temple, standing only inches away from Eugene,_

_and pulled the trigger._

_Blood and brain matter splattered across Eugene Thompson’s face as his father’s body fell to the floor. He stared in horror, and the hole in Harrison’s head stared back._

_He screamed._

_He screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed an-_

“-ash! Flash!”

“Flash it’s okay. You’re okay.”

“Flash. Look at me.” 

He was suddenly aware of hands gripping his arms tightly and a face before his. Peter Parker’s face. He was hyperventilating, no doubt he had been screaming and crying. 

“Good. Good. Just breathe. In and out.”

Several minutes passed.

“I know how to breathe Penis.” He rasped out. 

Peter smiled. 

The hands on his arms slackened and he realized that there was blood trickling down his face. 

;-;

The phone fell to the ground, and moments later Flash Thompson followed suite. 

He fell to his knees, staring ahead at something no one else could see, eyes glassy.

“Shit.” Mj muttered. 

Eugene fell further back into a position where he could hold his legs to his chest. 

“Don’t touch him.” She warned, slowly approaching the boy. “Flash? Can you hear me?”

Nothing.

She frowned, looking back at her friends. 

He was hyperventilating, eyes even wider at that point. His hands were shaking.

“Fuck.”

Mj kneeled at his side, biting her lip.

“Flash, look at me.”

He didn’t so much as look like he heard her. 

“No…” He mumbled, chest heaving deeper and faster, “no no no no no no.”

He let out a choked gasp, entire body reacting to something not truly there. His head reared back, as another sob broke through, and then;

He let out a shocked and horrified cry, before his hands came up to his face, trying to wipe away something that wasn’t there. His nails met skin, and soon there was blood trickling out of multiple scratches. 

_“Fuck!”_

Mj and Ned lunged for their classmate, holding back his arms. He panicked further at that, but it was the only way to keep him from hurting himself further. 

The disoriented boy’s nails had cut deep, and there was blood smeared across all three teens. 

Betty watched horrified, hands shaking and tears building in her eyes.

Peter quickly knelt in front of his… well… frenemy. 

Managing to calm him down felt like a miracle.

“I know how to breathe penis.”

Mj and Ned let out relieved laughs, letting go of Flash’s arms. 

Ned picked up his phone, that Flash had dropped, dusting it off and shoving it in his pocket.

“Sorry…” Flash mumbled. Ned smiled softly.

“Don’t worry about it.” 

;-;

The rooms wouldn’t be available for another hour and a half.

The five sat in the hotel lounge, awkward silence engulfing them.

Flash’s face was bandaged in several places, and he was doing everything in his power to avoid eye contact with anyone and everyone.

The sound of Ned tapping his heel and the lobby’s smooth jazz was all that could be heard. 

“Okay seriously, are we not going to talk about what just happened!?” Betty demanded abruptly, face red as though she had been holding her breath to keep herself from saying it sooner. 

Flash turned his head to the blonde, glaring at her. 

_“Betty!”_ Ned hissed, shaking his head at her with wide eyes. 

“What?” She frowned, “It was really scary to see that shit!” 

_Try living it,_ Flash thought bitterly.

There was a silence, and he realized they actually expected him to speak. 

To vent his feelings in the middle of the afternoon, face covered in glow in the dark band-aids, in the lobby of a way too expensive for Midtown High hotel, with the kids whose lives he’d made a living hell, listening to smooth jazz for fucks sake, like he was in some cheesy afternoon special.

“Seriously though Flash,” Peter started, earning the attention of the younger boy, “If you.. You know… Need to talk, we’re here.”

Eugene snorted. “Right. Like any of you actually care.” 

Peter frowned. “We do.”

“Yeah,” Mj smirked at him, “We’re not you.”

Flash bit back an amused grin, trying to act annoyed. 

“Flash,” Ned started, voice soft, “If we didn’t care we wouldn’t have helped you. If we didn’t care we would have left. But we do care.” 

Eugene looked away, heart pounding in his ears.

“I…”

When he looked back, they were still watching him. Waiting for him to continue. They were listening. They _cared_. 

No one ever cared.

“I… blipped, as you guys know, and uh, so did my dad, but not my mom.”

He let out a harsh laugh. “When I came back from the snap my mom cried. B-but they weren’t happy tears. She told me she thought she had finally gotten rid of me, and that I had found a way to fuck up her life once more. That the only thing I was good for was uh- was ruining people’s lives.”

“And I know she’d been saying that shit since the day I was born. And if she wasn’t saying it with words it was through black eyes and split lips…”

Betty’s face twisted painfully. She had tears building in her eyes once more. The other three looked just as concerned.

“But to have her say it right after me being, well, dead for five years. Like… Knowing she didn’t care at all… It kind of fucking sucked.”

“And when my dad came back, he found out my mom had been fucking the houseboy, and that she had pissed literally all of his money away. He, he got really fucking mad. Like… really mad.”

“He- He left the room and came back with a gun…” Eugene’s voice cracked.

Peter looked over at Mj, frowning deeply. 

“And I know he beat the shit out of us all the time, but I never expected him to _kill us_ . I always thought broken bones and concussions were the extent of his rage.” 

The way Flash described physical abuse so casually made Ned sick to his stomach. 

“But he um. He came over to me, he stood real close, and uh, and… And put the barrel against his head.”

There was a horrible horrible silence, where all Flash could do was replay the memory over and over. 

He didn’t quite know why he was being so open, so honest with these people. Maybe it was because they were losers, and they hated him already, so this wouldn’t change their relationship with him. Or maybe it was because they actually listened, and he had never had people actually listen.

Or maybe it was because he fucking snapped. And he couldn’t keep it in anymore.

“He pulled the trigger.” Eugene said, voice wavering. “And all of the blood and… and brain matter got all over me… all over my-my face.”

He swallowed thickly. “That was what the whole… scratching thing was about, I think.” He gestured to his bandaged face. “I was trying to- to get him off of me…”

“My mom she uh- she just looked at the body, and told me to clean it up. And I didn’t know what to do because my dad’s blood and brains were _in my fucking mouth_ , and I just-”

“I didn’t know what to do.” He sobbed.

There was another silence.

“There’s still blood on the carpet,” He whispered, “And it’s just my mom and I in the house.”

When he finally looked up, Eugene was met with four crying faces. He frowned.

“Flash I am _so_ sorry that happened to you,” Betty sniffled, eyes red and puffy. The boy blinked, not understanding.

“Eugene.” 

He looked over, eyes wide at the mention of his real name.

“I don’t even know what to say to comfort you. What happened to you was horrible and… and I’m so sorry you had to go through it. You don’t deserve that.” 

Peter Parker was… Comforting him? What The Fuck was going on.

“He’s right, you know,” Ned started, “You don’t.”

Eugene’s head was spinning. He couldn’t comprehend anything around him. Why were they… being so nice? Why were they acting like they cared?

“It’s not your fault.” 

Mj. Flash looked over to her, saw the sincerity on her face, and almost broke down. 

No one had ever told him it wasn’t his fault. It was always his fault.

“I…” His throat felt dry. “I don’t understand.” He said dumbly. 

“Why do you all care so much? It’s not like I’m your friend or anything.”

“Of course, we care, Flash. Maybe we aren’t friends but that doesn’t mean we can’t care. No one deserves what you just described.”

Eugene truly didn't know how to reply to that.

“You don’t have to go back to her.” 

“What?”

“Your mom. You don’t have to go back to her.”

Flash rolled his eyes. “Of course I do. I live there, and it’s not like I have anywhere else to go.” 

“Yes you do.”

“Oh yeah? Where?”

“My place.”

“... What.”

“My place. We have the room. It’s just my aunt and me.”

“Peter,” He started, and the name felt so foreign on his tongue. He could tell everyone else was just as surprised as him at the use of Peter’s actual name. “We’ve been civil to each other for what? Forty minutes? And now you’re inviting me to _come live with you?_. You’re crazy.”

“Maybe,” Peter replied, “but I can’t knowingly send you back to an abusive household.”

“It’s not abusive.” Eugene defended, frowning. “It’s not like I’m getting anything I don’t deser-”

“So help me Eugene Flash Thompson if you finish that sentence I will skin you.” 

Flash sputtered at both the use of his full name and the statement itself. Mj had a fire in her eyes.

“Listen to me, you don’t deserve that.” She said sternly.

“I- I know,” He mumbled awkwardly.

“No, you don’t. Look at me, Flash.” 

He looked over at her.

“You don’t deserve that. You never have. You never will.”

He stared at her, lip trembling. 

_“We’re only doing this because you deserve it, Eugene. If you weren’t such a disrespectful brat we wouldn’t have to do this!”_

_“You’re a fucking curse upon your father and I.”_

_“You’re nothing but a fucking nuisance to everyone.”_

_“Your mother and I raised you to be respectful, grateful, a good child, but look at you. You’re nothing like that. You’re pathetic.”_

_“We’re doing this for you, Eugene. Punishment promotes success.”_

_“Worthless little shit! We give you a roof to sleep under, food, clothing, and this is how you repay us!?”_

It was always his fault. Always.

He couldn’t hold it in anymore. He cried. Sobbing into his hands. He felt so fucking pathetic. Crying in front of his classmates after having a fucking panic attack in front of them. God he was so weak.

“I still don’t get it.” 

Peter, Mj, Ned and Betty all looked to him. 

“It’s not even that we’re not friends I mean- I’m a dick to you guys. I just- I don’t understand why you helped in the first place.” 

Peter’s heart twisted. Flash obviously wasn’t used to people caring about him. He was confused, no doubt thinking it was some sort of elaborate trick of some sort, and it made the web-slinger feel even worse. 

Despite being annoying and a bit of a dick, Flash was, in all honesty, a pretty fun person to be around. He was obnoxious as hell, and oblivious to an even further extent, but he wasn’t a bad guy. Peter actually enjoyed bantering with him. He was… well… A friend. In his own Flash way. Even if no one admitted it, and even if the Thompson boy denied it, it was true. 

“You’re not a dick, Flash.”

Eugene raised an unconvinced brow at him. 

“Yeah alright maybe a little,” Peter mused, “but still, you aren’t actually _mean_. Honestly it’s kind of funny. You know, in a… Flash way.” 

Flash snorted. 

“And besides,” Ned chimed in, “There are _actual_ dicks at our school. You know, big white boys who slam us into lockers and stuff… You don’t actually do anything like that.”

“Plus you’re _way_ worse in the comics.”

Everyone looked over at Mj. 

“What?”

“Nothing,” She shook her head, smiling. “But these two losers are right. You’re nothing like actual mean people, and we had no reason _not_ to help you.”

Flash could only stare at them, wondering if this was all some kind of fucked up dream his subconscious had set-up. His lips parted slightly, almost speechless at the thought of Peter Parker’s friend group of all people, not hating him. 

“Oh come on,” Mj rolled her eyes, still smiling, “Don’t look so shocked. You couldn’t have honestly believed we didn’t like you at least _a little bit_. If that was true I would have punched you a _long_ time ago. 

Everyone laughed, Flash included. 

Maybe things weren’t actually okay, and maybe he still had things to deal with, nightmares that would never leave, but in that moment there, Flash wasn’t alone.

For the first time in his entire life, Eugene Flash Thompson wasn’t alone.

And that meant more than anything ever had.

**Author's Note:**

> So Anyways I Swear I Love Him But I Feel A Need To Torture My Favs :D
> 
> hope u guys liked it ahaha, honestly I wrote this all in the span of eight hours :')))
> 
> y'all can DEFINITELY expect more flash fics in the near future I have two positively heart-wrenching in mind already hehe


End file.
